Within the context of great power competition, the study of strategic theory holds significant importance for the maintenance of national security. The purpose of this paper is to interpret the bait and bleed strategy, and improve the theoretical framework and implementation pathways of the bait and bleed strategy. It explicates how the United States, through the execution of the bait and bleed strategy, achieves the prolonged attrition of its competitors, thereby preserving its relative power and the stability of its global hegemony. J. Mearsheimer, in “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics”, defines the “bait and bleed strategy” as one of the core strategies employed by the United States in its global pursuit of power and hegemony. Building upon this foundation, this article categorizes the implementation pathways of the bait and bleed strategy into two modes: seduction and provocation. When bait serves as a means of seducing others, decision-makers, beset by internal and external troubles, often opt for strategic compromises in exchange for bait that could alleviate their immediate predicaments. Consequently, they fall into traps stealthily pre-set by those who deploy the bait. On the other hand, when bait serves as a means of provoking others, states lacking a sense of security and possessing a strong perception of threat, are prone to entanglement in a security dilemma with a supported competitor, and may even resort to war, leading to prolonged attrition for themselves. This article employs two pioneering historical cases to examine the theoretical framework proposed above: NATO’s enticement of Russia to concede on the issue of German reunification, and its provocation of Russia, leading to its prolonged attrition in the Ukrainian crisis. The research findings indicate that the bait and bleed strategy is a significant strategic tool for the United States and its allies to exhaust and isolate their primary competitors. It is only by fully weighing the structural contradictions and long-term objectives of the competitors within the context of great power strategic competition, and by achieving rational and restrained decision-making, that the strategic risks of falling into bait and bleed traps can be mitigated.
Key words: great power competition, bait and bleed strategy, Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO Eastern expansion.
DOI: 10.56429/2414-4894-2024-47-1-57-79